efix:photography – News. Thoughts. Pictures.

Quick note: Leica M9-P and Super-Elmar 21/3.4

On a big event in Paris, France, Leica have just announced two new products: the Leica M9-P and the Super-Elmar-M 21mm f/3.4.

The Leica M9-P is essentially an M9 with the looks of an MP, plus a scratch-resistant sapphire glass display cover. It will come in both chrome and black paint. More info in the L-Camera Blog.

The Leica M9-P in silver chrome. Picture © Leica Camera AG

The Super-Elmar-M 21mm f/3.4 is a small and light wide-angle lens ideally suited for landscape and architectural photography. It replaces the discontinued Elmarit-M 21mm f/2.8. More info in the L-Camera Blog.

The new Super-Elmar 21/3.4. Picture © by Leica Camera AG

While my enthusiasm about the new Super-Elmar is moderate, I find the Leica M9-P to be absolutely stunning and gorgeous. Ultimately, I think this is what an M should look like!

Picture of the day (June 21st, 2011)

This is an older one that I just dug out of my dusty harddrive

Leica M8 + Planar 50/2 @ f/2, 1/6000 sec, ISO 160

“Who the f*** cares?”

I could just say that (or rather: think that) and let it be. But this is so … ugh. I don’t even have words for it. And the worst part is: a lot of people are going to care about this. Ugh, again.

http://photorumors.com/2011/06/19/32mp-full-frame-sony-a920-dslr-camera-in-august/

Quick note: Nokton 35/1.2 II will come in August

Via rangefinderforum.com.

According to this page on Cosina’s website (reminder: Cosina is the Japanese manufacturer that produces most of the Voigtländer and Zeiss photographic products), the new Voigtländer Nokton 35/1.2 II will be released in August. According to Cosina, it will retail for approx. 135k JPY, which is quite a bit steeper than the original version.

The page also mentions that the new 35/1.2 has now three aspherical surfaces, as opposed to the original version which had two aspherical surfaces. As the original 35/1.2 Nokton was a highly regarded lens, the rangefinder community is of course very anxious to see inhowfar the optical qualities of the v. II will compare to those of v. I.

P.S.: In the rff thread linked to above, you can find the lens schematics of both version to compare. The overall construction remains the same, only the aspherical lenses have been altered, as Cosina have stated earlier.